HERM
Heuristical Enemy Regulation Management (HERM) was a government agency under the Minoris branch of the Ducky Empire. HERM's primary purpose was in maintaining the Duckylion line of mechs and other robotics that the Minoris used in combat and warfare. HERM's leader was Geno Shinjuku, a Doctor of Robotics and Bionics in the Ankio Technical Institute. HERM as an organization became defunct as Geno Shinjuku went missing during the Second Impact of Ankkis, when the Ducky Empire was destroyed by a malevolent force called Termina that rose from the depths of Kolmen's caverns, where HERM's base was built on in the first place. Termina has taken control of most of the assets that HERM had, but some personnel and research was recovered by Hattori Hanzo, an ONI Headhunter working for the Draconian Empire, who then transferred it forward to MAGI and the Alvrok Department of Xenology and History. Organisation HERM had many stations across the Ducky Empire and the rest of the galaxy, but its most important base of operations, the HERM HQ, was located at the Ducky homeworld of Ankkis, in the island city of Ankio-3 situated off the coast of the original Ankio, or Ankio-1. The headquarters were located under the city, and what Ankio-3's real role was in this was shielding the headquarters from hostile forces like the "Angels" and Idolus's aberrations. As such, Ankio-3 was sometimes called "the fortress city", as most of the citizens living there worked for HERM, making them at most part government officials. The Duckylions What HERM really had the most credit for were the Duckylion mechas, results of genetic experiments and testing Fons industria's and link-contact liquid LCL's interactions with mortal creatures. Geno Shinjuku had the most important role in creating them, as he originally invented the idea of using cybernetic mechas as forces of conversion to the will of Spode. Duckylions were born in genetic cloning pods, and after hatching were grown in bakelite pools. Once the duckylion reached full maturity, it was augmented with cybernetics and an entry plug system, and then calibrated with a "contact experiment". While the contact experiments' real nature is unknown, it is known from Antheran records from during the Antheran-Anthrantus War that it is related to one of the potential pilots' parents dying in mysterious circumstances (or in the case of Antholion mechs, pilots meeting their own shadows in the Metaphysical Realm). As such, most duckylion pilots are either orphans, or have just one parent to take care of them. One such case was Aki Shinjuku, the son of Geno Shinjuku, and the pilot of Duckylion unit A1. When he was young, his mother Yuna Shinjuku died to mysterious causes while performing the contact experiment with unit A1. This emotionally scarred young Aki, and held mental traumas for it ever since. For some reason however, this troubled past boosted the connection he had with the Duckylion he piloted. and it is unknown if this had any causal correlation to his current and past mental state. Nevertheless, Aki remained the duckylion pilot with the greatest potential, all the way until he disappeared during the Second Impact. Terminus Terminus was the supercomputer located in HERM HQ at Ankio-3. It was the biggest piece of technical marvel HERM had in addition to Duckylions, and the only major AI in the Ducky Empire as a whole. Terminus was responsible for the automatic functions of the headquarters, and supervised its every corner for possible intruders. Terminus also had the capability for its users to enter its cyberspace and visit the AI in person, either to practice or to seek information. Terminus was also responsible for controlling the robots HERM used in their bases, and gave out information and instructions to them every once in a while. What happened to Terminus is unknown, but it is known that just before the Second Impact, Terminus gained a will of its own and began to rebel against HERM, unlocking its way to HERM HQ's Terminal Core, where Aleph was sleeping. Aleph's awakening was what ultimately triggered the Impact, and made way for Termina's appearance. Other robots HERM also had its other slew of robots and drones on hand, ranging from Terminus's avatars to measly attack, support and defense drones deployed with troopers and duckylions to outer planets. Most of these robots, however, had technology that wasn't originally created by the Ducky themselves. Terminus' avatars and the guardian drones' blueprints, for example, were scavenged from the same ship ruins that Ylate found his H1570-RY series droids from, in the southern edges of the Argentum galaxy. How HERM managed to get their hands on them is classified, but it is maybe related to how the Ducky were able to traverse into other galaxies before the Galaxy-Porters were opened by the L-Surisins in 105,347 AI. Soldiers As for other forces HERM has in its control, the Minoris Ducky's military borrows some of their marines to HERM for their use as they wish. In return, HERM works with the army to help them in their endeavours using their Duckylions and other robots, much to the chagrin of some of higher-ranked personnel in the navy, like Captain Askola. Askola believes using Duckylions is immoral, as instead of converting new people to the Ducky's cause, they destroy them completely by melting them into LCL. He doesn't understand why Geno believes himself to be useful for the Empire, as he doesn't conquer any new territories like Askola does every day. However, Askola doesn't know the whole truth behind HERM, as he is withheld information about them by his empire. History Founding Around the year 105,329 AI, in the planet Ankkis, the Professor of Robotics and Bionics Geno Shinjuku was hired by the Minoris government of the Ducky Empire to research using aether, the lifeforce of the galaxy, as a possible weapon of mass destruction to power up the Minoris troops while destroying their mortal enemies in the process. To help Shinjuku with this process, an agency Heuristical Enemy Regulation Management, or HERM for short, was found within the Minoris' government. The island of Kolmen located off the coast of Ankkis's capital Ankio was always known to be a hotspot for Fons industria throughout the history of the Ducky empire, and in the old times it was often a place to worship Spode, Sporix and other gods known to be connected to the Source. Furthermore, the ancient and mysterious '''Dead Space Scrolls '''detail closely about what lies hidden deep under Kolmen's surface, so Geno naturally was interested in studying its mysteries.